“Wooden Fish” - a short film phenomenon that succeeded thanks to music

Starting out as a graduation project, the short film “Dan Ca Go” by director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat won First Prize at the 2024 Golden Kite. Shortly after, the MV “Phép Diệu” - the main soundtrack of “Dan Ca Go” was released and quickly became famous. Taking advantage of this attraction, the film officially hit theaters in mid-July, becoming a rare short film to be shown commercially, surprisingly rising to the top of the box office. However, the film received mixed reviews.

Image in the movie and in the MV "Miracle".

As of June 29, after more than 4 months of official release, the MV “Dan ca go” has reached more than 31 million views on Youtube, more than 13 million listens on Spotify and is leading The Official Vietnam Chart. To date, the MV has reached more than 39 million views on YouTube. The song was composed and performed by the film’s main actor - Nguyen Hung - and quickly became a phenomenon thanks to its easy-to-listen melody, meaningful lyrics, and beautiful images. Comments left on all platforms sympathize with the song’s content, while sharing their own stories and feelings…

The popularity of the song along with the Golden Kite Award made the public curious to see the film. And so when the film was released in theaters with a ticket price of only 39,000 VND (half the normal price of a movie ticket), the film was widely supported by the audience. Most of them were people who came to see it because they loved “Miracle”.

Set in a coastal fishing village in Central Vietnam, the film tells the story of Cuong (Nguyen Hung), a young man with a strong passion for music , but forced to put everything aside to inherit his father's job, drifting at sea, worrying about his livelihood. However, the sea is getting less and less fish, and the trips out to sea often lose money. Hoa (Minh Ha) - Cuong's wife - convinces her husband to sell the boat to go to the city to pursue his musical dream. However, even selling the boat is difficult, making Cuong's life even more difficult...

The film is only 30 minutes long, one-third the length of a normal film, so it is difficult to convey the entire content and message completely. Therefore, the work focuses on exploiting a single slice, which is the main character's internal conflict revolving around continuing to pursue his passion or sticking with the seafaring profession. The conflict between family responsibility and personal aspirations is a struggle not only for Cuong, but also for many young people today. Above all, the path to realizing dreams and hobbies is not easy with the burden of making a living, rice, money...

The idea is good but unfortunately the way the film is presented has not reached the audience. Although the film's structure is layered, the story is easy to understand, but it lacks climax, lacks highlights and the ending makes many people disappointed. Because they just felt sorry for the character, the film is over, not resolving anything. For the director, the ending that opens up the intention about the reality of life is not easy, but with the psychology of the majority of the audience, they still hope for a ray of light or at least for the character to speak, to think about his future, not ending in such an ambiguous way.

Perhaps the audience expected to enjoy an emotional film, especially after the music video was so successful, but forgot that this was just a short film - a genre that is full of creativity, personal experimentation, and sometimes does not follow conventional standards. And when making this project, the crew almost did not intend to create content aimed at widespread screening, so it is understandable that the storytelling of "Wooden Fish" did not receive positive feedback from the majority.

The biggest highlight of the film is the music and images. The 3 songs of the film, in which the main one is “Miracle”, are all completely new compositions, with passionate melodies, meaningful lyrics, suitable for the taste of young audiences. The film's images are close to reality when depicting the arduous journey of making a living of fishing boats at sea, but still poetic with the natural scenery of the fishing village, of the ocean, of beautiful love in youth... Especially the scene where Cuong sinks deep under the sea, holding the guitar in the vortex of fish and magical light through the water. This is the moment when Cuong sublimates in his dream and is also the most impressive image of the film.

CAT DANG

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/-an-ca-go-hien-tuong-phim-ngan-thanh-cong-nho-am-nhac-a188832.html